CHIANG MAI, Thailand — An elephant kiss is noisy but not wet or sloppy.

The kiss is a thank you from a baby elephant after I feed him a bunch of bananas. The end of his trunk latches onto my cheek like a suction cup. There is a giant pop when he pulls back a few seconds later.

It is just one of the ways the pachyderms express their appreciation for a snack of bananas and sugar cane to members of my tour group during our visit to the Maesa Elephant Camp. The stop was a highlight on a recent 16-day vacation to Southeast Asia.

I also get hugged — a trunk wraps around your body or neck and squeezes — and love tapped.

An elephant takes the pith helmet off the head of his mahout (trainer), places it on my head, taps it, then returns it to the mahout’s head. A love tap from an elephant is more on par with a slap to the helmet by an NFL player. But hey, it is an elephant.

After all the bananas and sugar cane are eaten, it’s bath time. Each elephant lies down in the nearby river as the mahouts go to work with their scrub brushes. Even the tusks get a polishing thanks to a handful of mud — the ultimate in exfoliating.

The animals have to look their best. It’s show time.

About 20 elephants are put through the paces of funny walks, trunk swinging, harmonica playing and the aforementioned hat trick. This is all just the warm-up act.

Out come the props, and we cheer as the elephants kick enlarged soccer balls and shoot miniature basketballs. A man from Iowa is advised to lose his dart-throwing contest to the elephant.

The pachyderms demonstrate how they had traditionally been used to help humans deforest the jungle. One elephant, wearing chains, drags a tree trunk. Three others use their tusks and trunks to lift a log and stack it with others.

The show’s highlight begins when five elephants come into the ring, each carrying a box of art supplies. The mahouts bring in the easels and canvases. The mahout dips the brush into the paint and hands it to his elephant, who takes it in its trunk.

I expect lines and squiggles, and the first couple of brush strokes prove as much. But after a couple more strokes, a picture begins to take shape.

The elephant closest to my seat paints the outline of an elephant from behind with its trunk in the air holding a rose. I am mesmerized and watch the giant artist paint every stroke.

After each elephant is done, the mahout shows the work to the crowd. There are gasps, then loud applause. Two of the elephants paint flower bouquets while another paints a bonsai tree. It takes a baby elephant a bit longer to finish a landscape.

All five paintings sell quickly — the landscape for $200, the other four for $100 each.

In case you aren’t one of the lucky five to buy those paintings, the camp has a store that offers more elephant paintings for sale.

Bring small bills with you for tipping. Who can say no when a mammoth Monet extends his trunk to you? After grasping the bill, the animal promptly hands it to his mahout. Well trained, indeed.

No trip to an elephant camp is complete without an elephant ride. Two options are available: 30 minutes and 60 minutes. I go for the hour.

Technically I am sitting on a howdah — a carriage on top of an elephant. It is a bench seat with a metal bar, like what you sit on when you ride the Ferris wheel at the carnival.

The camp is on the side of a mountain in the Mae Sa Valley, so for the first 30 minutes you are riding uphill and not thinking about falling out. When the elephant heads downhill, you are pitched forward and have to hold on.

The elephant finishes off the trek with a walk through the river.

Like the kiss, it’s fun and, sitting high on my howdah, dry.

When you go

Getting here: There are no direct flights to Chiang Mai, Thailand, from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, so you will probably stop in either Seoul, Tokyo or Hong Kong, then on to Bangkok. It is another 45-minute flight on Bangkok Airways to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is 435 miles north of Bangkok.

Other things to do in Chiang Mai: Visit the Hilltribe Villages and Tiger Kingdom.

Currency: Thai baht

About the camp: The Maesa Elephant Camp opened in 1976 with a handful of elephants. It is now home to 78 pachyderms. The camp’s philosophy, according to its website, is to create a natural and healthy environment for the elephants while working to conserve and breed them due to the dwindling number of Asian elephants in the wild. maesaelephantcamp.com

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